A/N: Ok, answers in this one, finally. Answers you might not like, but answers nonetheless. Thank you for the reviews from last chapter!

Chapter Thirty Seven

Corrine Myles lived deep in the heart of England's green and pleasant land—so deep, in fact, that she had no neighbours within two miles who could see the Death Eater attack. Corrine was an up-and-coming witch who worked in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Not an auror, but a lawyer, who was in the process of drafting new legislation that would remove the need for a trial by a jury of peers for those accused of Death Eater activities. It had been hers entirely in conception, and it needed only a few finishing touches before it was ready to be sent to Mr Crouch, and the Minister herself. Corrine lived alone, a widow of forty-seven with her grown up children living in London. They had often implored her to come and live closer, but she lived contentedly in her rural home, a converted miller's cottage.

She was under close observation by two opposing, powerful forces, and completely ignorant of it. The Order of the Phoenix had her down as a potential target, so were monitoring her closely. The Death Eaters wanted her dead, for obvious reasons. Fortunately for Corinne, the Order were there in strength, if fewer numbers. As soon as the first spell was fired through the window, they jumped into action.

Most of the Death Eaters were sealing the doors, windows, even the fireplace. Anything to stop Corrine from getting out. She was a capable witch, and broke the windows to get out, but the exits weren't sealed with glass. The other Death Eaters were trying to set the house on fire. If not for the presence of the Order, it would have been a horribly elegant execution. Fire inside, killing curses outside, and no escape. But the Order were there. Instead of pointing their wands at a defenceless witch, they were producing Shield Charms, counter-jinxes and everything else necessary to repel an attack.

Sirius was fighting with more ferocity than he had in a long time. When the summons had come via the phoenix teardrop, the idea of a proper fight, where he had to hold nothing back, was incredibly relieving. The only thing that could possibly be more satisfying at that moment would be a physical fight that left his knuckles open. Just like he'd left Helena. Bruised and bleeding. Then he might be able to get some of the pain and guilt out.

He smelled singed hair, suddenly realising that it was his own and that the middle of a battle with Death Eaters was probably not the best time to be brooding.

"We need to extract Myles!" Moody yelled. He pointed at James and Sirius. "You two, open an exit path! You, form a perimeter, stop the bastards tearing the house down!" he called to Arthur and Kingsley.

James shot a Stunner at a Death Eater trying to sneak up on him. Considering he'd shot it over his shoulder without looking around, it was neatly done. "What about you?"

"I'm getting Myles!"

The plan formed, they all leaped into action. Once a corridor had been opened, Moody barrelled down it into the house, shedding Death Eaters like scales from a fish. He disappeared into the house, and Sirius and James had to keep the narrow corridor of clear air open. James out a Shield Charm over the doorway—it would stop some of the minor spells going in. Not that the Death Eaters were using minor spells. The two closest weren't given a chance to do anything though before Sirius sent a vicious set of spells their way.

"Confringo! Locomotor mortis!" He followed up with pointing his wand at the ugly stone gargoyle that hung from the edge of the roof. Or rather, its support struts. "Reducto!"

The supports exploded, and the stone creature hurtled down to land with sickening crunches onto the two Death Eaters.

"Padfoot, on your right!"

He looked around just in time to find cords flying through the air towards him. No time to dodge; he brought his wand up in a split second and sent an incendiary spell forwards. The ropes burned up instantly, giving Sirius time to get back to his feet. The Death Eater, now trapped between the two of them, appeared to panic. He tried to run past Sirius, who put his foot out and set him sprawling. As he fell, his hood and mask caught on a branch and were torn off. When he landed heavily on the ground was started scrabbling around for escape, his face was clearly visible. And his face was that of Sirius' younger brother.

Sirius, James noted, looked surprised, but not all that stunned. "Regulus?"

Still panicked, Regulus shot a stream of orange-red fire over Sirius' shoulder into the house.

"Expelliarmus!"

James caught the wand while Sirius advanced on his brother. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

Regulus held his hands up. "You - You wouldn't kill your own-"

Whether he would or not was irrelevant; a spell slammed into James from behind, throwing him forwards. It was quickly retaliated though, as Sirius threw a Stunner back at the Death Eater. He collapsed into the doorway of the house. The fire gave a huge roar and started moving towards him like it was alive. A second later, James realised why: it was alive. He could see snarling beasts and raging monsters in the flames.

"Oh shit. That's fiendfyre!"

Both he and Sirius looked around in utter incredulity that Regulus had managed to cast such a spell, but Regulus had disappeared, disapparated while their backs were turned. There was no chance of him controlling it now. If there ever had been to begin with.

"We have to get Mad-Eye!" James yelled, his face being prickled by heat and beginning to hurt now.

"Do you know how to stop it?" Sirius shouted back.

James knew exactly how not to stop it, but not a single spell came to mind when he thought of how to put it out. But they couldn't leave Moody in there to burn, or Corrine Myles. Luckily, right at that moment, a Death Eater who did know how to control it suddenly appeared. She was only there to stop her compatriot being swallowed whole, but neither James nor Sirius were in any mood to be picky. Neither was Moody, who had apparently only waited for his chance; he suddenly came charging out with the unconscious Corrine Myles slung over his shoulder.

He threw her—bodily—to Kingsley. "Get her out of here!"

This was not what the Death Eater had in mind, and nor was her comrade supposed to be still lying there. She kicked him, hard, until he started stirring. Not fast enough. "Nott, move!" she shrieked.

James, Sirius and Moody were all close enough to hear her, and they all recognised her with the same thought: That's the bitch who killed Sandy.

Suddenly under attack on three fronts, the Death Eater was forced to abandon the fiendfyre and defend herself quickly. She counter-attacked, blocked and dodged wherever she could, acting so far that hardly anything got through. However, when Arthur Weasley joined in, it was impossible for her to keep up the game. Unforgivables started flying thick and fast.

"Crucio!"

Arthur went down, suddenly screaming like his bones had been set alight. The woman took the opportunity to run for a clear space. In another ten seconds she would disapparate and be lost to them again. Moody and Prongs appeared in her path—Moody, she didn't bother with a spell; she simply kicked him square in the chest and continued on, raising her wand at James.

"Avada-"

"Stupify!"

Sirius' spell caught her in the middle of the back, and knocked her down in a darkened heap. Her hood was knocked askew, but no one had time to look at her face. The rest of the Death Eaters were hurriedly making their escape, melting back into the shadows. Three more were taken down before they were, and finally there were just a couple left, who seemed torn between leaving and trying to rescue Sandy's murderer.

"Leave her, idiot!"

"But the Dark Lord will-"

They both ducked as a stunner raced over their heads. "We must risk it!"

In another second, they were gone. The Order had won the day, with no casualties and only minor injuries. And more, they had her. Now fully recovered, Arthur was helped up by Sirius while James pointed his wand at her. "Incarcerous."

The others followed his lead, tying up the Death Eater prisoners tightly. James moved—gingerly, he still wasn't sure what damage she could do even bound—towards the female Death Eater. Her hood was crumpled, her mask knocked slightly aside. James could see a segment of pale cheek, but nothing else. His anger and bitterness lent him strength, and he grabbed the hood and mask, not caring if he scratched her skin or pulled hair, and wanting to do both. He couldn't help it—he wanted to cause the bitch pain. That was, of course, until he saw her face.

Helena. But how could it be Helena? How could she be here, how could she have been wearing a mask and how could she be- could she be- Helena?

"No…" he breathed. "No, no, no, no, no…"

"Prongs?"

James threw his arm back. "Don't come over here, Sirius."

"What?"

"I mean it, stay back."

Sirius' voice had taken on a suspicious edge to it now. "Why?"

"Don't ask, just don't-"

When Sirius moved toward him, James scrambled to his feet and put himself in the way, physically pushing his best friend back. It didn't work. There was a reason, after all, why Sirius had been the Beater, and James only the Seeker. He was pushed aside easily. Sirius didn't get further than a few steps anyway. But a few steps was enough, just enough, to see her face.

It was strange how many deeply unpleasant revelations one person could go through without it being the end of the world. Realising his parents were in serious dark-magic territory, being made aware (for instance) that his younger brother was a Death Eater—all had been shit, at the time, but Sirius had always survived with relatively little scathe. But this might be his limit. It still wasn't quite the end of the world. It was just that the bottom of it had fallen out. There suddenly wasn't anything beneath his feet. No certainty in anything. Everything was instantly...impossible.

He felt nothing but empty shock, coupled with a sensation of deep nausea. His stomach heaved, and for a moment he thought he might be sick, but then he looked at Helena again and the sense of unreality came back. Impossible.

"Padfoot?"

He had questions, of course he did, a million of them. Why was she here? How was she here? Was she here against her will? Was she even still breathing? Maybe it would better if-

"Sirius!" James said quietly, shaking his shoulder.

Physically incapable of a reply, Sirius didn't try to make one.

Gradually, the others drifted over, their gasps and proclamations of shock more audible than the sound of Sirius' heart being ripped cleanly in two. Arthur was the first to break the silence. "I thought... Didn't she saw she was out it?"

James nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, she did. Mad-Eye, is it possible Dumbledore-"

"No," Moody said harshly.

"Then...what do we do?"

"She can't go to Azkaban," Sirius said. "She can't."

Legally, she should go to Azkaban for the rest of her life. There weren't just suspicions; no more than two hours ago, all of them had heard her admit to the Imperius Curse, and she'd performed the Cruciatus Curse in front of them all on Arthur, and...she had murdered Sandy. That was all of them. That was a three-step process to utter evil. And Helena was stood on the very top step about to jump into the shark-infested waters of immorality. The image that popped into his head was just inane and bizarre enough to make him laugh.

Until James punched him in the shoulder. "Padfoot! Shut up, and pick her up. We have to get back to HQ. Dumbledore can decide what to do then."

He seemed to be operating under the impression that as long as Sirius was numb to it all, he'd do anything without much protestation. Sirius was curious as to how long that was going to last. If he was a betting man, he'd wager about twenty more minutes. There was a fairly massive breakdown coming. They apparated to Castle Westmoreland (now reinforced with extra security spells), and James conjured a chair, which Sirius dumped her into. He bent to tie her wrists together, and as he did, her sleeve fell open. At the sight of the Dark Mark, emblazoned and laughing on her skin, all the rage, nausea and pain hit.

He shoved away so forcefully the chair rocked. "Oh fuck this!"

He got halfway to the door before James stopped him. "Padfoot, you can't just leave!"

"You just watch me."

"Look, mate, I know how you must feel, but-"

Sirius stopped, wondering if he'd ever truly felt fury until this moment. "Really? Do you? Because I don't see Lily in that chair!"

"Regardless, you can't simply disappear, what's Helena going to think when she wakes up?"

"Probably be wondering how to get back to Daddy Dearest!"

There was a faint popping noise, and Dumbledore materialised. He looked generally concerned. Until he spotted Helena, and then general concern morphed into specific worry. "Ah."

"Fuck this sideways," Sirius burst out.

This time, he got to the door. "I would prefer you stay, Sirius," Dumbledore said.

"Why?"

"Because you should. I've asked Lily, Remus and Peter to join us too?"

"Why?"

"Because both you and Helena need your friends around you. Especially now. This is not going to be pleasant."

It wasn't pleasant from the first second. When Pete arrived, the fact that Helena was tied up was enough to scare him into scuttling over to James and Sirius. Normally it was a bit amusing, but now it was simply disgusting to both of them. Lily, when she came in by floo, gasped and ran immediately to her friend.

"Helena? Why on earth is she tied up?" she demanded angrily.

James stopped her on the point of severing the ropes that held Helena's wrists together. "Don't, love."

"What? Why not?" She looked between her husband's ashen face and Sirius' devastatedly angry one, her own eyebrows coming together. "What's going on?"

"I- We had to stop them from killing this witch, and she was- And then the Death Eaters attacked and-"

Lily took his face between his hands, her green eyes now almost as full of worry for her husband as for Helena. "James. Just tell me why Helena's tied up."

"Because she's a Death Eater," Sirius said flatly, when Prongs' mouth kept opening and closing pointlessly. Lily made no sign of shock or surprise. She did look dismayed, but a stone-cold suspicion in the pit of his stomach told him why. "You already knew. Bloody hell, Lily!"

"I- I knew she had the Dark Mark, but she swore to me she'd tell you, Padfoot, she told me she was out!"

"That," Dumbledore said quietly, "seems to have been a common theme."

Remus was the last to arrive, and he did look shocked, but quietly so. He clasped Sirius' shoulder briefly and then stood next to him. The show of solidarity went totally unappreciated.

"Lily, did you bring what I asked for?" Dumbledore asked.

She nodded and held out a small glass bottle. "Veritaserum."

"Thank you." He took it from her and gently tilted Helena's head back, opening her mouth. "Envervate."

When Helena opened her eyes, everyone took a step back. They were pure crimson. But not the same dead, flat colour as Voldemort's—they glittered with malicious life. Dumbledore didn't have to request silence; Sirius' tongue seems to have cemented itself to the roof of his mouth, even though he wanted to be screaming and shouting and generally making the entire world feel as terrible as he did.

"Do you know where you are?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

That red gaze flickered around the great hall. "No."

No? How could she not know? Unless Lily had brewed the potion incorrectly—but she looked as confused as the rest of them. Dumbledore, however, looked oddly satisfied. Like a theory had just been proven correct.

"Who are you?"

"I am unnamed." A brief smirk ghosted across her lips. "You may call me…Lady V."

It would have been entirely ridiculous, hilariously funny, if it hadn't been so chillingly fitting. "Why did you attack Corrine Myles?"

"I was ordered to."

"By whom?"

"My father."

"How long have you followed his orders?"

"Since I first came into being."

"And how long ago was that?"

"Eight weeks. The night Helena first rejected my father. The night she was blessed by him."

The feeling of wanting to be sick had all but faded completely now; his whole being was rapt with attention and curiosity. Everything depended on listening to her. These answers didn't make sense—but they were still answers. They were still enabling him to draw a thin trickle of air into his lungs. Dumbledore was taking his bloody time with the questions though. If it was Sirius he would be constantly shouting them.

"Besides the murder of the auror Sandra Shore, are responsible for the death of anyone else?"

"No."

"Have you tortured anyone else?"

"A muggle. It was fun."

"Who?"

"A barmaid."

Oh God.

Lily was the next to get it. Her hands flew to her mouth, her eyes flew to him, and she shook her head. "No, no, no, no… Helena, you couldn't."

"Helena did not," Lady V said, hearing her. "She could do no more than cast a simple Imperius Curse. Pathetic," she added, her lip curling. "Helena would never do such a thing."

At this point, Dumbledore straightened fully, and regarded them all. Seeing expressions ranging from confusion to fear, he explained. "She's telling the truth. She isn't doing these things."

"But we know she is!" Sirius protested.

"No, she isn't. The other one is."

There was a silence, and when Sirius spoke again, there was a great tension in his voice. Dumbledore's next sentence had better make sense, or there would be bloodshed. "What do you mean, 'the other one'? There aren't two of her!"

"I'm afraid there are. Helena—with the aid of Voldemort's interference and the Dark Mark—has developed a split personality. Helena herself, or the one we all know, is out, away from the Death Eaters and everything else. It appears when she's asleep—sometimes when she's awake too, another side of her personality wakes up, and then dominates for a time."

The implications of Dumbledore's words began to sink in, and a knot of hope formed in his chest. With a lump in his throat, and strangely hot eyes, he asked, "So- So she isn't doing it of her own free will? She literally has no choice?"

"None at all."

He squeezed his eyes shut and struggled not to literally cry with relief. "Alright. Next question: how do we evict Lady V out of her?"

"Evict her?" James asked, frowning. "Is that possible?"

"I want that bitch out of the woman I love!"

"It's not a case of outright removing her," Dumbledore said. "The personalities have to be integrated. They separated presumably because Helena couldn't bear the idea that she herself could do the things she was required to. She needs to come to terms with the fact that she did, and that part of her—not a wholly separate person—enjoyed doing so."

"No," Sirius said instantly. "No. She wouldn't."

"The facts are-"

"She ripped Maggie's tongue out! She gouged her eyes from her skull and cut all her fingers off!" he roared. "Why would Helena, even a tiny part of her, want to do that?"

The reply was only murmured, but Sirius felt them slide through his flesh like broken glass. "She coveted what was mine."

Horrorstruck, he turned to face those poisonous eyes and toxic words. "What?"

"She dared to touch my property. She had to be punished."

No one tried to stop him when, unable to bear any more, Sirius' self-control snapped, and he disapparated. Her friends did not look away from the monster wearing Helena's skin, and Dumbledore only sighed, light blue eyes full of sorrow. "This will not be done easily, and it will not be done quickly."

A/N: Seems like Sirius is always running away lately, I know, but I think I would too. Review please!